One of the things that I really love most about our sweet JK is his chattiness. He is such an outgoing, gregarious little guy and when his comfort level is high enough, is very chatty!
We noticed when he moved from the baby room at school to the toddler room, his vocabulary exploded. By 18 months he had well over 130 words. They weren't always understood to everyone, but Momma understood most of them. This past month, he has moved from the toddler room into the 2 year old room. Not only have we noticed another vocabulary growth spurt, but his comprehension has been nothing short of awesome to us. Some of the things we've heard around the W Mansion lately...
*****
Driving home from somewhere a few weeks ago, he sees a new
Smart Car in the lane next to us and screams, "Baby car!"
***
JK has a large brown birthmark on his right knee, courtesy of the M genes on my side of the family. He always calls it his "owie". I tried to explain that it's not an owie, but a birthmark. That he was born with it and that it will never go away. He listens and says, "Burt Mark" and immediately runs into the living room and points to a picture of Daddy standing next to his Uncle Matt and Uncle Mark.
Um...not quite.***
Most of you know that JK's very best sidekick is a stuffed monkey that a friend of ours gave him. He takes that thing EVERYWHERE and naptimes/bedtimes/fearful times are a disaster if we don't have "Momo" to comfort him.
Which is also why we have four of them in rotation. God help us if anything were to happen to them!One morning, as N buckles JK into his carseat, JK takes Momo and puts him into the attached cupholder. Very proudly announcing, "Momo chair!"
***
The routine in the evening is for me to pick JK up from school and we go home to either play or start dinner. He's usually in the middle of eating dinner when Daddy comes home. One night, he was asking for Daddy from the moment we left school. I had to explain over and over, "Daddy's at work." Finally, either tired of asking or distracted with dinner, he stops asking me where Daddy is. But halfway through his food, we hear the Eclipse alarm beep and the front door open. JK's face lights up and he screams, "Daddy work all done!"
***
Watching the Mickey Mouse show on the Disney channel one morning, JK says, "Moush!", with an "sh" sound at the end. I said, "That's right, that's a mouse." When the part of the introduction, where Mickey's house springs alive, JK says, "Moush Housh".
Okay, so the vocabulary's big, but we're still working on enunciation.***
The other day N walks JK down the street to see the new fire department that lives a block from us. When he points out the ambulance, JK says, "Owie". Yep, the ambulance is for people with owies!
We're still not sure how he knew that.***
A few months ago, N's parents lost their beautiful collie, Barker. He was old and in ill health and had to be put down. We explained to JK that Barker was gone and that he had gone to heaven to be with Jesus. Just recently at bedtime, as we were saying our prayers, I asked JK, "Where is Jesus?" He points to the ceiling and says, "Heaven. Wif Barker."
***
At the beach a month ago he drops his pancake snack in the sand. His bottom lip immediately quivers and he starts crying. We soothe and explain that it's okay. We have more pancakes and the birds can eat what he's dropped. He sniffles and happily eats the new pancakes we put in his hand. About an hour later, he tries a crispy cold fresh carrot for the first time. Being the expressive tot that he is, he immediately scrunches his face up and spits the chewed carrot bits on the sand. Obviously fresh carrots are not a favorite. Both N and I said, "JK! Don't spit your food on the ground." He very casually shrugs and says, "Bird eat it."
***
It was early morning and I'm on the living room sofa nursing EK. JK wakes up and joins me. His hair a wild mess of curls and his puffy little face is so cute when he wakes up. He stands silently watching me nurse and says, "Baby milk". I said, "Yes, the baby's drinking milk." After another moment he says, "Boobies!" I'm caught a little off guard, but confirm to him, "Yes, baby's milk comes from Mommy's boobies." But I'm thinking to myself, OMG, this kid is too much! He contemplates this a moment longer and lifts his shirt to look at his torso. He then looks up with his eyes wide and says excitedly, "I have boobies too!"
*****
I'm sure there'll be more situations like these crop up, but I wanted to record them here, so I don't forget his sweet innocence. I know someday, probably too soon, he'll be screaming at me how I've ruined his life and how humiliating I am to him so I want to remember these sweet funny times to help balance those out! LOL!
